US armed drones flying over Baghdad

The US has armed drones flying over Baghdad to protect US troops that recently arrived to assess Iraq’s deteriorating security, the Pentagon said. For more than a week the military has been flying manned and unmanned aircraft over Iraq, averaging a few dozen sorties daily for reconnaissance. The decision to arm some of the drones follows the deployment to Baghdad of troops who will advise and assist Iraqi counter-terrorism forces. “The reason that some of those aircraft are armed is primarily for force protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some military advisers whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of the embassy,” the defence department’s press…